Extracellular Secures Funding on Vevolution to Accelerate Cultivated Meat industry

Extracellular, a scale-up and development partner in the cultivated meat space based in the United Kingdom, has secured?over $1,900,000 USD to date, supported by Vevolution.?Will Milligan, the founder and CEO of Extracellular, matched with?Silla Scheepens?of?Future Food Fund,?Newland Syndicate, and angel investor?Alex Payne?through Vevolution.?

Extracellular is an enabler of the cultivated meat industry, providing research and development capabilities for cultivated meat companies to accelerate the development and scale up of production.?

The recent funding includes more than $1.2M USD in advanced subscriptions, ahead of a planned equity financing in 2023. Will Milligan shared, “Vevolution helped us find mission-aligned investors who care about the same things we do, creating a more sustainable and ethical way of feeding the 8 billion people on the planet.” In addition, Extracellular has secured $700K in non-dilutive funding.

Extracellular has established world-class research labs at Science Creates in Bristol through corporate partnerships and biotechnology companies, with support from PALL Corporation, Thermo Fisher, BICO, Solaris, Infors, Beckman Coulter, and others. In addition to the 200L bioreactors operational in their scale-up labs, they plan to install bioreactors larger than 1,000L to meet their goal as a global leader and development partner for cultivated meat scale-up.

Silla Scheepens, of Future Food Fund, said “We were very impressed by Will and his team of bright minds. Extracellular comes with great experience in biomanufacturing, bringing innovative practices and dedicated research to the table, delivering cost-effective and sustainable processes at scale for partners. Very excited to see what they will add to the acceleration of cultivated meat. At Future Food Fund, we are proud to be part of their journey and looking forward to contributing to their success.”

Growth and scaling up in the cultivated meat space

In 2022, the global cultivated meat space was valued at?$246.9 million USD, and from 2023-2030, is expected to expand at a?compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 51.6%. Despite this potential, startups in the space struggle to scale up due to the challenge of raising enough capital, securing highly talented staff, and the?ability to access expensive bioreactors.?

Creating cultivated meat is currently a costly process, and this translates to expensive prices for the consumer. Once this process is streamlined and expanded, cultivated meat products will be more widely available to the general public.

To accelerate the cultivated meat space, Extracellular will offer bioreactor capabilities at the 100 L, 1,000 L and eventually the 10,000 L scale to produce tens to hundreds of kilos of cultivated cells.?

Alex Payne, a vegan impact investor focused on early stage companies said, "In the race to get cellular agriculture products on grocery store shelves, Extracellular has identified a crucial need for scalable, reliable, and cost-effective manufacturing processes. I expect that their expertise will be a key differentiator for some of the most successful companies in this growing space.”?

Current state of cultivated meat & regulatory approvals

Singapore is currently the only country that has granted regulatory approval for the commercial sale of cultivated meat, and is also home to the only restaurant in the world that sells cultivated meat. Huber's Butchery?offers a limited supply?of cultivated chicken (six servings) in a salad or as kebab sticks one day a week. This government approval was granted 2 years ago in Singapore, and since then, we have seen no other regulatory approvals nor commercial production of cultivated meat.

However, the United States is one country?that recently saw a huge step forward?in the cultivated meat space. In response to both Upside Foods’ and?GOOD Meat's?documentation for pre-market consultation, the FDA said it had no further questions regarding the safety of the company’s cultivated meat for human consumption.

Extracellular operates in the United Kingdom, and in this country, the?government will require?cultivated meat to go through pre-market authorization from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in order to be sold to the public.?

Vevolution simplifies funding for cellular agriculture

Vevolution is the leading investment platform connecting foodtech, cultivated, biotech, and next-gen material companies to impact investors.?For cellular agriculture companies, it can be challenging to find mission-aligned investors and secure enough capital to scale up. Vevolution’s network of 600+ investors makes it easy to connect with those looking to invest in the future of food, and complete your fundraising round quickly and efficiently.?

Vevolution is home to 1,500+ startups, hundreds of investors, and nearly 5,000 users from around the globe to fuel a kinder future.?Extracellular is now another addition to Vevolution’s fundraising success stories, the?Vevolution Collective, alongside many other organizations.?

Startups can accelerate their fundraising processes and?add their rounds?in under 10 minutes to connect with leading funds and strategic angels.?

Investors?can access more than 200 fundraising rounds like Extracellular’s, pitch decks, data room documents, and streamline their communications with founders or other investors.?